Marines Cruise Past Middle Country, Punch Ticket to Finals

Middle Country stars J.T. Hall and Tom Telesca put on a show for the better part of a year, after carrying the Cougars to their first Suffolk County High School Hockey League championship last season.

But thanks to captain Keegan Travers and the top-seeded Long Beach Marines, the show's over.

Travers had two goals in a 10-2 rout of the defending league champions in front of a large crowd at The Rinx in Happauge, including fans from both sides as well as players from Connetquot and Smithtown, who played later that night in the other semifinal, looking on in awe of the Marines.

What was pitted as a matchup between the league's deepest team and top two talents quickly turned into a laugher, as Long Beach scored early and often, jumping out to a 7-0 lead midway through the second period.

"They played a late game last night," said Marines head coach Joe Brand. "There’s no way it doesn’t have an effect on them to start a game the next night. We talked about it yesterday, and on the bus ride over here today. Our game plan was to jump them early, get pucks deep and make them go the length of the ice. We wanted to make them work for everything they were going to get."

Hall and Telesca were unable to spread the ice and create scoring opportunities as they've become so accustomed to doing. Long Beach managed more goals in the first period than Middle Country did shots.

The onslaught continued in the second period. Through two periods, Long Beach held a 24-13 shot advantage and a 9-2 lead.

Long Beach goaltender Harris Pittinsky was solid again in net, stopping 22 of the 24 shots he faced.

The Marines got a pair of goals each from Travers, leading scorer Jimmy Diamond and Brian O'Sullivan. Hunter O'Neill, Evan Schwartz, Nolan Pues and Rob Delury also scored for Long Beach.

"Like anyone else, you get a year where it all comes together," Brand said. "Right now, we’re playing really well. I think these guys are focused, I think they see what’s in front of them and I think they’re up to the challenge. Last year we fell a little bit short because we knew we didn’t stay on a team we should’ve, and for a lot of them it’s still very prevalent."

Long Beach earned a spot in the SCHSHL finals in their first year of competition in the league after coming over from the Nassau County High School League.

"We’re deep, we’re talented, but from one year to the next it could be anybody’s turn next year," Brand said. "We didn’t come out here because we knew we could win out here. The competition’s been great, we’ve had a lot of close games."

Long Beach will meet Connetquot/Sayville, the second seed, in a best-of-three series starting Monday night at The Rinx after the T-Birds made quick work of Smithtown in the other semifinal.

Connetquot/Sayville boasts two of the three players that tied for the league scoring lead in Frank DiChiara and Tyler Young, as well as Young's fiery linemate Nick Russo. The trio of game-changers controlled the tempo against Smithtown, spending a vast majority of the game on attack inside the Bulls zone.

Long Beach took both regular season meetings against the T-Birds, including a 10-4 victory at the Long Beach Ice Arena on Dec. 20, but with both teams at the top of their game, it's tough to say that either team has the edge heading into the finals.

"We had an 8-6 game with Connetquot earlier this year," Brand said. "But on any night, if somebody has a good night, a goalie has a good night, you don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot of firepower on both teams."

News & Notes: SCHSHL released regular season stats prior to the semifinals. Jimmy Diamond led all Long Beach scorers with 27 goals and 17 assists, good for fifth in the league. Captain Keegan Travers tallied 18 points despite playing in only 11 games this season. J.T. Hall was the other player tied for the scoring lead, with 55 points.

Game one is scheduled for Monday night at 8:10 p.m. The teams will meet again the following night, in game two, at 8:50 p.m. A decisive game three, if necessary, will be played on Friday, Feb. 18 at 9:40 p.m. All games will take place at The Rinx. There is a $5 charge for fans in attendance at all finals games.